Shenmue 1 & 2 (DreamCast)

[TripleHBK]

Originally Posted by Derb

I'm 15 years late to the party give or take a year.

I recently started up the NA version of Shenmue & so far am liking it despite the Tank controls. I decided to delete my file & start over with the PAL version. So far no problems with playback using Codebreaker boot disc. Anyway, about the game.. I'm very OCD when it comes to collecting stuff in the game & not being able to use what I have collected.

Near the beginning of Shenmue, you run into a girl who has a kitten. I first tried feeding the cat by the grave alter which had dried fish for whatever reason. The cat didn't eat that & then there was some dialog between Ryo & the girl before she left. The next in-game day, I found milk & dried fish which I was able to take from Ryo's place & are inventory items. He even comments when taking each food that "Maybe I can give this to the cat?" or something along those lines. When I go back to the cat, I can zoom in & I am given options like Pet, Look, Call or Quit. Tried that & Ryo doesn't do anything. Then I zoomed into the cat & choose my inventory screen. Selected Dried Fish. I am only able to view the item, not interact with it. Same goes for the Milk I took.

Is Ryo just a bastard? Or is there a way to feed this cat?

I like all the SEGA promo's galore with items & stuff people probably had no clue of like the manual for the 1986 SEGA Master System in Ryo's drawer.

Another question I have & is one of the reasons I switched over to the PAL version is because I don't know if your VMU save will carry over to Shenmue 2 if you played & completed Shenmue 1 NA disc??

btw, it's really hard to get screen shots that are half decent on the iPad but here are a few..

I've played countless times since its original release so long ago. It's easily in my top 5 games of all time. (The sequel not so much). It's been a few years since i went through it, but from what I remember you only get one chance to feed the cat, so if you already did or tried to, that's it. The game is set-up more as a choose your adventure style book in that you get one chance or make one decision and that's it compared to a modern game where everything can be completed with the right conditions. There is very little that actually impacts the game however... much like real life, mundane actions or conversations can happen if you choose or be ignored with little impact on the rest of the day (game). The Collectibles in the game serve no purpose other than to provide a meaningless collection. The only worthy "Collectible" is really the Sega Saturn and the games you can win which allows you to play them at home rather than the arcade.

Shenmue was such a special game... it was even deeper back when the 56k modem was still functional and you could access the online extras. I'll be sure to check back and watch for any other comments. I'm currently playing GTAV between my movie watching, but if I finish with enough time I may try going through Shenmue again before Christmas (when I'll likely have Metal Gear Solid V to occupy my time.)